High gas prices? Just take a walk!

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, May 8, 2003

MEMBERS OF the California Assembly had a chance to do something about high gas prices this week.

So what did they do?

They took a walk.

As we have reported on this page before, one of the the most maddening practices in Sacramento -- almost epidemic in the timidity-plagued Assembly -- involves legislators trying to play both sides of tough issues by simply not voting when the roll is called. It's known as "taking a walk" -- even though the nonvoters are typically present in the Capitol hearing room.

This tactic arises most often in conflicts involving an issue promoted by consumer or environmental groups and opposed by a powerful industry.

The defeat of Assembly Bill 146, an attempt to infuse competition into the wholesale gasoline market, was a classic case of legislators ducking a tough one.

Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, crafted AB146 to prohibit an industry practice known as "zone pricing" -- in which oil companies dictate the range of prices their franchisees are allowed to charge motorists for gas in particular geographic areas. Her bill would have allowed the brand-name dealers to compete for lower-cost gasoline in the spot market. Right now, major companies are often offering gasoline to independent dealers at lower prices than they force their own franchise stations to pay.

In his May 2000 report on state gasoline pricing, Attorney General Bill Lockyer had suggested that promoting competition in the wholesale market -- along the lines proposed by Kehoe -- would be "the most effective way of addressing zone pricing practices with the least enforcement cost."

Bay Area motorists, who pay among the nation's highest gas prices, are obvious targets of "zone pricing" by the major oil refiners. Kehoe's bill would also limit the ability of refiners to buy out independent service stations and convert them to company-owned stations.

Oil companies, naturally, oppose any such restrictions.

Which brings us to Tuesday's vote in the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions. Big Oil's lobbyists were out in force to defeat the bill. Seven "yes" votes -- out of the committee membership of 13 -- were required for passage.

The final vote was 3 yes, 4 no -- and 6 nonvoters. The bill will come up for reconsideration if Kehoe can lure enough of her colleagues out of hiding.

Four Bay Area legislators were on the committee. Only Assemblyman Mark Leno,

D-S.F., voted for AB146. He said the small dealers "clearly demonstrated" that zone-pricing tactics were inflating costs at certain stations.

"I don't approach this as someone with a Ph.D. in economics, but it's clear the price is controlled from the moment it's taken out of the ground until the moment it gets in our gas tanks," Leno said.

Two other Bay Area members on the committee were among those who were present but did not vote.

One was Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, who said she had too many unanswered questions about the plan: "I consider my nonvote an expression of the fact I need more information on an issue that is pretty important."

The other nonvoter was Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. A former USF economics professor, Nation said he "asked a lot of questions" at the hearing, but was not persuaded that AB146 would lower gas prices. He suggested that the shifting of price competition to the "terminal level" -- in other words, where the big trucks load up -- would end up with all stations paying more.

So why didn't he simply vote no? Nation explained the author asked him to "keep an open mind" -- even though it's clear his opposition to AB146 was set in stone and his abstention had the effect of a no vote.

Nation has been schmoozing colleagues lately in his fledgling bid for Assembly speaker as an ostensible "reformer." One of the first reforms this Assembly really needs is an end to this constant subterfuge on voting records. An Assembly speaker should lead by example.

As we have said before, members of the California Legislature are elected to make tough choices and to serve their constituents. And they are elected to vote, as defined by "yes" and "no."

We continue to favor a rule that would require legislators who fail to vote to forfeit their pay for the day. Perhaps repeat offenders could lose their $400-a-month auto allowance, which buys a lot of gasoline, even when inflated by "zone pricing." .

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